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[<eureka AT hctc.net>]

Haven't tried sulfur...what would be the application rate? 
I'm always looking for ways to boost the veggies that 
don't contain blood or fish products (I'm severly allergic 
to the latter).

Our vegetable garden is in raised beds, and the soil was 
'mined' from the topsoil brought in by floods in our 
creek, and is continuously amended with composted chicken 
bedding. This works fine for annual edibles. Good luck 
with your blueberries and let us know how they do.

--Sage
Way Out in Texas

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:29:26 -0800
 Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com> wrote:
> you know sage, i'm planning to do blueberries in raised 
> beds.  the ones 
> in the ground are pitiful after 10 years.  i could never 
> seem to get 
> enough fertilizer on them.
>
> they say that real alkalinity is hard to ovecome.  in 
> droughty places, 
> there's never enough rain to wash away sodium buildup. 
> each watering 
> only adds more.  have you tried sulfur?  it's the only 
> thing that works 
> for my farmer/nephew in Yuma.  the sodium is still 
> there, but at least 
> it's neutralized to form sulfites and sulfates.
>
> i assumed that peat moss was already as leached as can 
> be, so i have an 
> alternate theory.  organic acids basically just have a 
> carboxyl group 
> (-COOH) attached to them, like vinegar (CH3COOH).  but 
> as molecules 
> become larger, they're less likely to be soluble.  so 
> why not huge 
> organic molecules left over from anaerobic decomposition 
> of cellulose, 
> with lots of -COOH groups attached?  now the mechanism 
> would not be 
> leaching out acid, but sucking up metallic ions like 
> Ca++ and Na+.  this 
> seems reasonable to me, a total chem novice, but i'm 
> just guessing.
>
> bill
> s. oregon coast
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